August 27, 2008

I recently found out that over half the businesses in this country are home-based businesses. In general these kinds of businesses get no pub, no air time and no spotlight. This is precisely the reason the folks at StartupNation.com teamed up with Microsoft Office Live Small Business on their second annual effort to identify the top 100 home-based businesses in the US of A.

I had a great conversation with StartupNation co-founder (and small biz expert) Rich Sloan that you may want to check out if you're interested in making this year's list, especially if you think you have the greenest, grungiest, yummiest, wackiest, or most unique small businesses across America:

August 03, 2008

My latest article for Inc.com's technology site is up. It's about the new roles for today's entrepreneur. One of those new roles I thought about is that of chief media personality officer. I thought about calling it King (or Queen) of all media, but I think that's already been taken.

Being the CMPO doesn't mean you have to find a way to be on CNBC, CNN, MSNBC or any other cable news outlet. But it does mean you've gotta show up on the web in those places you're customers and prospects are congregating. And as the small business owner, it really does mean YOU. Because you are the small business, the brand, etc. And in a business environment that is more and more web-centric, that means YOU blogging, YOU podcasting, YOU twittering, YOU Facebooking... YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU...

Ok, you don't have to do it all, but you've got to do some of it yourself. But what you absolutely have to do is begin looking at social media as a strategic tool, and then figure out the best way to use it. If that means finding someone to help you with this, do it. It will be as essential to the survival of your company as your traditional marketing and sales folks are today.

UPDATE: A special shout out to Sherman Hu who inspired the Chief Conversation Officer role I mention in the Inc. column. My editor "edited" my acknowledgment of him out, but he was the stranger-turned-collaborator that I mentioned helped me come up with a name for a new blog I'll be doing for Inc. Thanks again Sherman...Hu are the best!

The JumpUp team, with the help of a great set of expert judges - Anita Campbell, Ramon Ray and John Jantsch - chose 5 finalists from over 1,500 submissions to compete for the prize. Each finalist has a page with their essay discussing their entrepreneurial dream, a home made video, a short conversation with me, and a few other tidbits that help the JumpUp community members get to know each of them. And this is important because the community will decide who the eventual winner will be.

In fact the community is encouraged to be a major part of this whole thing. First off the votes are flying in faster than the JumpUp team had imagined. Lively conversations are sparking up all over by the comments being left on the individual finalist's pages. Not only are they commenting, but they are stumping for their favorite "candidate" by enlisting their colleagues to vote for their favorite. Intuit has made it easy for people to add badges to blogs and websites inviting people to vote for "my candidate". So if you have a Blogger or TypePad account, you can help you're candidate get votes with a couple of clicks. And if you have a big Facebook network, you can put it to work for your favorite with the same ease.

Through this contest that will eventually allow one contestant the ability to "just get started" with $50K, the other finalists have gained so much exposure it can't help but raise their profiles and possibly increase their chances to realize their dreams as well. And the community in general wins as they should begin to see the power of how social media can be used to create excitement for ideas that can reach a wide audience, in a very short amount of time. And this all can be done without breaking the bank.

And this is why Intuit really gets it. This contest will help way more than the lucky individual who wins the cash. It helps anyone who is looking to understand how the power of Web 2.0 tools and strategies can help them compete, thrive and survive. Way to go Intuit! This is just the kind of role model needed to help "Jump Start" the small business community into embracing social media.

One last thing. There are a few folks commenting on the choice of business ideas represented by the group of finalists. Some folks don't seem to be thrilled by what they perceive to be the lack of exciting, complex, or innovative ideas. All I can say to that is the lion share of all small businesses operating today are what most would consider to be "boring", "traditional" businesses. These are the same businesses people have used to create the majority of the new jobs our economy is fueled by. They also allow regular people to buy houses, raise families and be positive role models to others looking to have their own business.

December 18, 2007

I used my www.BlackEnterprise.com column this week to throw a prediction out there for 2008. It's called 2008: The Year of the International Solopreneur. It's a short and sweet little ditty about why I think everything's in place for those one man (or woman) bands out there with the guts and determination to become world-renowned at whatever it is they want to do. If you get a chance to check it out let me know what you think.

PGreenblogPaul Greenberg has alot to say and he always makes it enjoyable to read. If you want to keep up with the CRM industry this is the blog for you. He'll also keep you up to date with his favorite sports franchise - the Yankees.